"Miss?"
"Ma'am?"
"Hey!"
The cab driver nudges me and I bolt awake in the back of the cab. The car purrs softly. He smiles to show that he was just trying to awaken me, and that he's not a jerk.
My mouth is dry...
I rifle through my clutch to find a credit card. I hand it to him, and then vigorously blink my right eye so that my contact won't be stuck to the top of my eyeball.
I really need a glass of water.
It's pitch black. Not a soul is around. I have no recollection of how I got here, but assume that after one too many martinis someone put me in a cab.
The cab driver hands me back my card, and I throw it back into my clutch. I struggle with the door for a second before I maneuver the best way to slide out of the cab, and slink towards the rod iron gate.
Creeeeek.
I close it softly behind me. I turn the corner and realize that I'm still wearing the flip flops that Eli gave me, and that I'll have to get my shoes back from him another time.
Crunch. Crackle.
Is that glass?
It's pitch dark out, so I can't see where I'm going. I try to step carefully because there seems to be glass around me...and why the hell is it so dark? Why isn't Charlie's sensor light coming on? Or the other one?
Must be a blackout...
Great. Now, drunken, I have to maneuver my way across the courtyard towards my...
Whooooah!
What was that? I just completely slipped in something gunky. I almost lost my balance, but managed to regain myself. My eyes are having a hard time adjusting, but there is something wet and slimy on my feet now.
"What the fu----" I whisper to myself.
"Mia," Consuela whispers from the top of the steps. "Mia, don't yer talk. Yer iz just come home quiet like yer iz, ok?"
I hear fear in her voice.
I take another step through the dark slime, and try not to lose my balance, but a moment later I hear hoof steps on the other side of the courtyard.
"Mia, yer iz need to walk quicker, ok?" Consuela whispers from the top of the steps. I don't know why she hasn't come down to help me through this muck -- whatever it is.
I hear a growl that makes the hairs on my arms stand straight up. The hoof steps start to quicken their pace.
They are coming towards me?
"George, grab her! I'll hold him off!"
The hoof steps are louder and approaching from behind, and just as I feel warm air from his nostrils breath on the back of my neck...
...I'm swooped up. A moment later I'm in the air, cocooned by strong arms.
The bull roars...it's deafening and the building quivers, but the wings on these strong arms pull me very far away from the courtyard -- towards safety.
And, eventually, the roaring stops.
